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The Iron Man: The Musical by Pete Townshend

The Iron Man: The Musical by Pete Townshend, released in 1989, is an adaptation of Ted Hughes' story The Iron Man, produced and largely composed and performed by Pete Townshend of The Who. It also stars Roger Daltrey, Deborah Conway, John Lee Hooker, and Nina Simone. It is Townshend's fifth studio album.

The Iron Man: The Musical

27 June 1989

1986–1989

Eel Pie Studios, London

Rock

45:36

The three then-surviving original members of The Who (Daltrey, John Entwistle, and Townshend) performed as a group in two songs, "Dig" and "Fire", although the latter was a cover of The Crazy World of Arthur Brown's hit. (The Who would later perform "Dig" live during their 1989 reunion tour.)


"A Friend Is a Friend" and "I Won't Run Anymore" were commercially released as singles; "Fire" was issued as a promo-only single in the United States. Cash Box said that "A Friend is a Friend" "finds Pete in an uplifting vein, with falsetto vocals and strummed guitar."[4]


A stage version was mounted at the Young Vic theatre in London in 1993. On the strength of this, Warner Bros. optioned the story for a movie which, with a very different adaptation of the story, became The Iron Giant; Townshend received an Executive Producer credit.

Hogarth:

Pete Townshend

The Vixen:

Deborah Conway

The Iron Man:

John Lee Hooker

The Space Dragon:

Nina Simone

Hogarth's Father:

Roger Daltrey

The Crow: Chyna

The Jay:

Nicola Emmanuelle

The Frog:

Billy Nicholls

The Owl:

Simon Townshend

The Badger:

Cleveland Watkiss

Liner notes on songs – Dig, Fire